Evolution of Evolvability

Evolution can be immensely creative when it comes to the specification of organismal form and function. However, whether evolution through natural selection can sustain itself by improving the ability of a population to evolve has been the topic of a great debate. Surprisingly, the individual determinants of this evolvability (eg. genetic pleiotropy, development plasticity, mutation rate) have been shown to evolve under specific contexts. In my research, I am taking a step further down this line of reasoning to ask the following questions.

  1. Can the different determinants of evolvability evolve simulatenously under specific conditions? (preprint)
  2. Can we use tools from statistical physics to derive the conditions for the emergence of evolvability? (in progress)
  3. Can we use directed evolution to engineer populations with increased evolvability? (in progress)

Origins of Biological Complexity

Biological systems are incredibly complex, both due to the number of entities that interact within and across scales, and the emergent phenomena that arise as a result. This complexity makes one wonder about the causal factors that can create such complex processes. In this context, I wish to understand the following.

  1. Is direct selection for complex features required for such complexity to evolve? (article)
  2. What makes simple agents cooperate and thus take the first step towards living in an ensemble? (article, poster)

Engineering Living (and life-like) Systems

Our ability to engineer living systems has increased substantially in the last few decades. I am interested in engineering biological (and biologically-inspired) systems to solve modern day problems. My questions in this direction can be stated as follows.

  1. Can we create engineered bacteriophages to improve the efficacy of traditional phage therapy? (PhageShift website)
  2. Can we use haloarcheal gas vesicles to improve the rate of production of recombinant protein products? (iFLOAT website)